Cherry Blossom
by Klangadin
Summary: After years, Lee has given up on Sakura. Or so he thinks. What happens when he returns to Konoha?
1. Chapter 1

Normal ⌠Speech■ /Thought\  
Jutsu

Chapter 1

Rock Lee wanders through the forest, on his hands, as always working hard on balance and strength. He recently passed even Gai-sensei in his training, and struggles to find a new level of difficulty.

Something to challenge him.

His musing causes him to wander, and his wanderings lead him to a place where he had once spent many sleepless nights dreaming of being inside. Sakura Haruno▓s apartment. He had long since given up on that dream though. His final hope died the night she had called him Sasuke. His memory flashed.

Kinen

A long walk led him to her apartment. Her birthday was the day he had been waiting for so long to arrive. He arrived with the rest of team Gai, who had decided to give them some time alone, whether they liked it or not.

Gai-sensei pulled Lee aside at the door, ⌠Now listen Lee. Tonight is not a time for caution. I want you to be the best you can be, and get that girl. Maybe then you can stop swooning and get back to training.■ ⌠Yes, Gai-sensei. I will try.■

Lee▓s knowledge of the plot was assumed by each member of the squad┘except Lee. He had no clue. TenTen-san always said he was clueless. Neji had gotten the guys to go with him on a beer run, and TenTen managed to get the girls away from Sakura, though she never explained how.

Lee sat alone in the living room with the girl of his dreams. He scooted closer to her, and she responded. /Yes, my youthful enthusiasm has finally won her over!\ Lee snuck an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned against him. He could feel that she was exhausted, and so helped her relax, gently rubbing her shoulders in the fashion of a medic releasing strained muscles.

She leaned back further and stretched, and then moaned ⌠That feels good, Sasuke-kun.■ Lee was too shocked to even stop. Sasuke had betrayed them all, and had been gone for months, and she still imagined that every good sensation came from him. Lee was, if anything, a gentleman, and waited for her to get up and go find the other girls. Then he quietly slipped out the door, hoping to be hit by a meteor.

Ate kinen

But time marches on, and life improves. Lee became a truly great shinobi, even learning to unlock all of the gates of sealing, and worked harder than ever to get over the massive pain from what had happened.

And now he finds himself standing once more outside her place, wondering what she is doing, hoping she doesn▓t see him. And still loving her.

Lee righted himself, and walked over to a small park bench. Sakura was lucky, to live right next to the park. Lee had spent most of his life in Gai-sensei▓s cramped apartment. Lee assumed Sakura was up there right now, having a good time with the love of her life. At least, deep down, in the part of him that had held on to the dream of being a ninja, even when he lost to Gaara, he did.

Sakura▓s POV

/I▓m tired\ Sakura Haruno stood facing out the window to look over the park next to her apartment. By tired, she didn▓t mean mission tired. Not even sleepy tired. She was tired of her current life.

She had spent almost three years weighing her mistakes, and now realized her biggest one was to fall for the arrogant one. Any number of boys in the village would have shot the moon for a chance with her. Two actually had fought to win her favor, and one of them had gone missing recently.

Deciding to worry about Bushybrows when there was something she could do to help, she sat down on her couch, and thought. Sasuke came back to the village, but he is so completely changed. I don▓t know what to do there.

/Naruto finally realized that Hinata loved him, and that is good. That means the only one I would know how to approach, Lee, is gone. \ Sakura sighed heavily, and let a tear slide slowly down her left cheek. She knew she could go try to talk to Sasuke again, but what was the use. Even after coming back, he still wasn▓t interested. Finally she decided to take a walk in the park to clear her head.

Sakura headed down the stairwell, saying hi to friends she passed. Kiba and Akamaru were showing the apartment this week since they had just gotten the penthouse. No one wanted it because Akamaru had used ▒Dynamic Marking▓ in it. Naruto was eating Ramen as he went up to his floor, with Hinata in tow. Ino was carrying a huge plant, which Sakura helped her with, only to learn that Chouji was trying to hide in the plant so he could sneak into her room. Sakura felt really pathetic.

Finally reaching the front door, she opened it and walked out, only to see one last straw. TenTen was leading Neji into the building just as she left, and he was not even trying to hide it. /Why don▓t they go to the Hyuuga compound? \ Heading to the small arboreal park, she decided a hike would do her good.

Lee, on the other hand was taking a break. He pulled out the bottle of water he had brought with him, and sat nursing it for a bit. Finally feeling quenched, he hopped up, and readied himself to return to society. He was halfway through his exercises, when he heard a soft humming. Hiding, he saw Sakura walking through a grove of Cherry trees. The time could not have been more perfect, as the trees were in full blossom, and the sun was going down, giving the whole scene a certain postcard feel to it.

As she wandered through the trees, Sakura asked herself, /Why doesn▓t anyone love me?\ Looking down, she saw one, perfect cherry blossom fall and land on the ground, and remembered something a friend once told her.

Kinen

Sakura is sitting in a chair, in a hospital room, helping to take care of Rock Lee. He stirs for a bit, and mumbles her name. She looks at him, with a total lack of comprehension, and asks, ⌠Lee, why do you even like me? I just don▓t understand.■ ⌠Well,■ comes a surprisingly strong voice, ⌠Love is like a cherry blossom. It grows in places you least expect, and to search for a perfect one for your whole life, would never be considered a wasted life.■

Ate Kinen

/A perfect blossom\ Sakura▓s thoughts seemed to keep returning to the lotus boy, and she hoped he was ok. A strong feeling made her believe he was, but she was never too sure. Picking up the cherry blossom, she leaned against a tree and held the flower. ⌠I think I will string it in my hair.■ Sakura didn▓t say so, but she hoped that by putting it in her hair, she would be more beautiful. Unfortunately, after a few moments, she realized that the flower blended in with her unusual colored hair. Slowly, she frowned. It just wasn▓t quite right. She always felt inadequate, but she couldn▓t even decorate her hair as she saw fit because of her natural color?! Flopping down in frustration, Sakura hoped a wolf of a bear would come and kill her while she cried.

She got neither.

Instead, a strong hand came down to her chin. Lean muscled arms drew her head back to look into her eyes. A green jumpsuit. Full arm wraps. A smile, bug eyes, bushy eyebrows, and a bowl haircut. Some things never change.

Lee looked into the teary eyes of the girl he loved. He wanted to know her pain. To take it from her. He had tried not to love her. Really hard. He had given up on her almost three years ago, and now here she was smiling at him through teary eyes. A broken smile. The smile of someone who has been hurt too much to love too soon. An expectant smile, hoping for Lee to say what she wants so badly for him to say. Hoping even for proof that he is real, he is back, and he still loves her. Lee looked, and tried to look away. Deep down, he knew he should look away, but the undyingly determined part of him, the part that got him titled the green beast of Konoha, would not allow him to. He wanted so badly to give up on loving her, but he couldn▓t. He would protect her with his life. He had too. He returned her smile.

Sakura was getting up courage. ⌠Lee are you back for long?■

Lee looked at her. ⌠Yes. I have completed my training, and am ready to continue my life. Why do you have the flower in your hair?■

Sakura had forgotten all about the flower and her pathetic little moment, but was suddenly violently aware of what he must have just seen. Blushing a bit, she decided to just confess. ⌠I was tired of looking bland, so I thought this may add a touch of beauty. But it just blends in with my hair.■

Lee looked for a moment, and smiled at her. ⌠A perfect blossom. Most people go their whole lives, and never find one. I guess I am just lucky in more than one respect, ne?■

Sitting amongst the trees, Sakura had a feeling she had never felt for Lee before. She pushed it under the all-consuming well of her feelings for Sasuke, but it had existed. She was more than just relieved. She was ┘ /no, that is absurd.\

After three years away, Lee sits amongst the trees, doing something he has dreamed of for years. Holding her. She cries her deepest, darkest fears away, and Lee stands there. He just doesn▓t move. He hears a vague attempt at conversation, but lets it go. As she recovers, he steps back, and assumes the ▒nice guy▓ pose. ⌠I am here from this moment on, Sakura-chan!■

She was assured by the words of the young Taijutsu master. She hated it. Fought it every step of the way. But some things will be. 


	2. Chapter 2

Normal ⌠Speech■ /Thought\  
Jutsu

Chapter 2

Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage, declared the day after Lee▓s return a celebration. Streamers and lamps filled the village, and Konoha, usually such a quiet place, came alive. Might Guy spoke and cried profusely, Kakashi Hatake sat alone reading an Icha Icha, while Jiraiya watched the party for material for the next one. Even Naruto showed up, a break from training.

Everyone came to tell Lee not to do that again, and welcome back. Or to comment on how much he had changed. True, Lee still wore the same green jumpsuit, and true, while unkempt, he still had signs of the same bowl haircut, but under all of that, he had grown up. Even Ino and TenTen noticed when he finally got to his apartment and put on some downtime clothing.

He still wore his weights. After years of wearing them, it was second nature, though he did take down the amount of weight. Instead of his typical jumpsuit, however, he wore a green shirt with a stripe down the side, and matching shorts. Lee didn▓t realize what had changed over that much time.

His shirt, which had fit him when he left, now showed every muscle and gave the impression that he could tear it off by flexing real hard, and the shorts ended at his knee, showing off his incredibly toned lower body as well. Ino had almost swooned when he came back out of his apartment. TenTen actually had. Lee just looked confused, and super-speed caught his old friend.

The mistake had to be made, and someone made it, now that they were old enough for sake. No one ever admitted to being the one to hand Lee a drink, though only one person was around to call for help. The party was in full swing when a loud call was heard from TenTen. Rushing to help, most of the nin still had Orochimaru and the fights with Sasuke fresh on the brain. If only they were so lucky.

Naruto was the first on the scene, and he was the first off of it. A blast of air, followed by ⌠Konoha Dai Senpu!■ shot him halfway across the village. Lee was eventually restrained┘ by a toad mouth trap. After Lee went to bed, there was not much more going on that night, so everyone went home.

Everyone, that is, except a certain cherry-blossom kunoichi.  
Tap, tap.

Lee heard, but he could not make his body respond.

Tap, tap.

Praying he left his door unlocked, Lee calls out, ⌠Come in.■

Sakura opens the door and walks in. Loking for Lee, she sees his on the couch. Chained up.

Long ago the men of Konoha had learned that Lee was far too strong for any but the heaviest of chains, and that the best way to keep him and everyone else in the village safe when he had had alcohol was to keep him still.

Sober, Lee was a whirlwind. Pure speed and power when he fought, all energy.

Drunk, Lee was a typhoon. Hell on earth followed where his path led when inebriated. Few people held up to the force of his punches and kicks.

The men of the village knew this. Sakura did not.

⌠Oh kami, Lee-kun┘■ Sakura stops short and gasps when she realizes what she said. She releases the chains for him, and leaves, never saying another word.

Lee, on the other hand, couldn▓t help but mutter, ⌠Was that┘?■ 


	3. Chapter 3

Normal ⌠Speech■ /Thought\  
Jutsu

Chapter 3

The next few days were awkward for Sakura, because she was suddenly hearing the things the other kunoichi wanted to do to Lee and getting┘jealous. She couldn▓t believe that she kept running into him, either. Years of avoiding him like the plague and she had developed a sixth sense for when he walked through the door.

Of course, now she didn▓t run.

She actually used it to tail him a few times. By all standards, not a bad job to have. When he took a mission, he would leave a note at her place about why he was missing. But he still hadn▓t asked her out yet.

She decided she could change that.

Lee kept meaning to try with Sakura again, but after the night in the park, he was having a hard time finding the words. He still remembered her crying to him. Telling him all the wrongs. Whether it was the year Naruto missed her birthday, a trifling matter , or the fact that Sasuke was a punk-ass, a problem he had considered fixing, she had spilled all that night.

As always, Lee had listened attentively. He hung on her every word. After letting her know he was staying in town, he had spent his entire first night listening to the sweetest voice in the world. Now, he just had to find a way to ask her that would make her that happy again.

For all Sakura cared, he could have asked her like he did the first time, and she would go. She didn▓t care. All of her thoughts were on this when she walked up to Ichiraku for lunch, to find Naruto eating with Hinata. Since they started dating, Hinata had become more confident, that was for sure. While Sakura sat eating her miso ramen she happened to look over to see Hinata slip her hand between Naruto▓s knees. Sakura started to daydream about doing the same with Lee, and kept it up till Hinata was snapping in front of her face. ⌠Sakura-chan, your food is gonna get cold if you don▓t stop staring.■

Embarrassed, Sakura finishes her ramen and pays, leaving a bit on the counter for Ayame. In her head, she wonders what is wrong with her. She wanders around town for a couple of hours, and comes across an apartment she hasn▓t seen in years. Not since the last time TenTen held a sleepover. Officially, the place belonged to Might Gai, but each of his students had a room there. Sakura figured that would be where Lee would be staying.

Before she could even knock, the door opened, and Might Gai greeted her without his usual aplomb. ⌠Damn it, I told you little brats that┘ Oh, Sakura, it▓s you. I assume you are here to see Lee, right?■

⌠Umm, I guess so, Gai-sama.■

⌠Well, it▓s good you came. Every kunoichi in the village has been by to visit him, and he was starting to go crazy wondering where you were.■

⌠He assumed I would come?■

⌠You know Lee. He is full of youthful vigor. Always assumes the best. Let me go get him for you.■

Being a day off, Lee was asleep, and so was clad in loose fitting green sleeping pants, and a green cotton tee. ⌠Hello, Sakura-chan. Can I help you in some way?■ He said in a sleepy manner. Sakura had never seen this side of him. It was kinda cute.

⌠Lee-kun, I just wanted to say┘ I am sorry. I have acted worse than Ino-pig here lately, and I am sorry┘■

A finger on her lip silenced her. Lee looked down into her eyes, and laughed. ⌠Worse then Ino-san? No, I don▓t believe so. Just this morning I answered the door, and she tried to molest me. A strange event, that.■ Lee laughed it off to let Sakura know that nothing happened, and invited her in.

Gai-sensei listened from the kitchen to their conversation, and jumped out a window to find Kakashi. The scarecrow owed him five ryuu now, and he was going to have it. Plus he wanted to talk to him.

While Lee ate and dressed, Sakura pondered what he was going to do now that he was a true master of Jenken fist. Surely it wouldn▓t be long till he became a Jonin under the current circumstances.

Lee watched her face while she mused, not sure whether to catch her attention or let her sit in that confused looking position. Finally, he snapped her out of it, and asked her to follow him.

⌠Where are we going?■

⌠You▓ll see. I think you will like it.■

The building for the chuunin exams loomed ahead, and Sakura was a bit confused. Till she saw a genjutsu disguised sign that was 201 but read 301.

⌠I wanted to bring you back here. To where I first asked you out, to ask you once again. You already know that I will protect you with my life. Sakura, please be my girlfriend!■

Sakura▓s eyes lit up, and she tackled Lee. ⌠Oh, yes, Lee-kun! I will!■

A week later, the talk of Konoha was that Rock Lee had finally landed his girl. The cherry blossom was happy as she had ever been, and Lee was as attentive as he promised to be. He even went to get a haircut, something even Sakura wasn▓t sure he would do, just to see her smile.

This, however, caused it▓s own set of problems. 


End file.
